Recap: I look around we lost 10 or more people during the fighting. As I was about to stop I remember what happened only minutes ago. I killed that man. Oh my god I killed him I start to process my emotions I was crying tears falling from eyes onto the ground. I look up to see Fumiko killed someone who was about to backstab Klein. She hysterical and I tried to move but I was frozen with guilt how could I help her? She seen me when I casted the spell we were both killers.
Shantotto," She calls out to me and I look at her. "If you defeat the wizard I was talking about earlier on you may be able to take that staff."
"Thanks and… it wasn't your fault," I replies and they teleport away I realize that I'm the only one here everyone else was one. I see the quest pop
Such Sweet Sorrow will you accept?
I click the accept button and I am given the quest marker. As I walk through the castle I hear a voice in my head
"What is done cannot be undone"
Chapter 10: Such Sweet Sorrow
Seeking to forget makes exile all the longer; the secret of redemption lies in remembrance- Richard von Weizsaecker
As everyone teleports away I am the only left in the Crystalline Castle, the battle still fresh in my mind is still here. Echoes going through my head on the decisions made and the horrible things done here. I killed someone, someone who didn't deserve to die no less but if I didn't that girl would've been killed so did I make the right choice?
Enemies soon began to spawn as I hopped to one platform to the next I ready my sword and begin to attack. It's almost as if I'm in a dream going through the motions going in for the kill is my goal. The crystal warriors are fitted with spears and has a long distance and striking attacks. I keep back and wait for one to do his move and use a strike to back to finish them off. When there's only one warrior left e stops and looks at me curiously almost if he's examining me and I confused. Why did he stop attacking me? But in the middle of my thought the warrior begins to shake out. Thinking he was going to explode I begin to run until hear a voice
"WHY DID YOU KILL ME?" I freeze in step horrified of what it said. As I begin to turn around I see him. The man I killed only hours ago his body complexion is pale and on his clothes is the black blast from the killing spell I casted on him.
"You're not real" I say to the creature. I begin to back away but the echo, creature, whatever the hell this thing is walks towards me
"You were supposed to arrest me not kill me! I was just following orders! You ended my life so easily I think it's time that I end yours!" It rushes me and before I could even do anything he pushes me off the platform. I was going to die and it was too an echo of the recently dead, when all was lost I felt an impact.
"Where the hell am I?" I said examining my surroundings it seemed like I was an entirely different place. It looked like I was in a cave but then when I looked to the walls and the ground there was vigils of glowing circular. I was in another Erathi Ruin
"You are correct mortal but this is not a ruin no this is a newly built fortress" A man came from the shadows and he was adorned in heavy armor and had a large great sword on his back. He was very muscular and with jet black hair and a scar on his cheek.
"Who are you?" I asked reaching for my blade
"Ease yourself mortal I do not come here to fight you instead to help you. I am Thyrdon God of War, Battle, and Tactics" His voice boomed through the hallways that it made a vibrating motion in the hall
"Gods in SAO? No this isn't real I'm dead aren't I? I died back there to that thing"
"No you did not die you were saved by us. Come let us walk" He says and I let myself relax
"So why am I here?" I asked Thyrdon
"Some of us think that your heart is not in the right place since your incident. So we have brought you here to help you" Thyrdon explains
"Wait there are more of you?" I ask still kinda of confused by this whole ordeal
"Yes but you will meet them later on" He stops and I look at the door in front of us. He holds out his palm and a red light emerges from it, various clicking comes from behind the door and it opens. He beckons me to go through the door and since my curiosity got the best of me I enter it with him. When we go through the door we appear in a roman battle tactics tent. There are various maps, and plans all over the room with weapons of all kinds scattered across the tent. Thyrdon makes his way toward the throne and he sits in it
"So why do you feel guilty about this man's death?" Thyrdon asks
"Because he shouldn't have died he could have had a family in the real world. A mother, a father, siblings and I took it away any chance of them seeing him ever again" I explain to the god
"But do you realize if you didn't used the spell that girl would've?" Thyrdon says
"Yes but it didn't have to go to that. I could've-"
"No you couldn't because you knew in the heat of that moment it was either kill or be killed. You saw how they unlock their restraints and almost attacked Klein. So do not think of this as a murder because you have sent from a different place a better place than this world" I never thought of that. If he would've been captured he could've been broke out and killed again or just rot away in a cell
"So I see your mind has cleared a little bit. My time with you has ended now it is Ynadon's turn" When he said that a green doorway appeared in the war tent
"Go now and speak with my brother" He says
"Thank you Thyrdon" I say and he gives me a wave before I go through the door. When I enter it I find myself in another room which looks like a courtroom of sorts. In the chair where the judge sit there was a teenager with white hair and calculating green eyes. His face read cold and serious
"I am Ynadon god of Justice Come forth so you will be judge" I come forth to the platform and stand before him
"You have been sent here to help yourself deal with the circumstances of your kill" Ynadon speaks
"Yes I understand but wouldn't murder be against justice? He could've been saved" I ask
Ynadon sighs "There are different forms of justice, yes we all prefer the peaceful kind in which the accused will give up willingly but at times there is the destructive justice in which death which is not always the right thing to do maybe the most reasonable"
"So you're saying even though death isn't desired it's unavoidable" I try to piece what he's saying but he only speaks in riddles
"Yes and you must remember that there is always a choice he could've chose to lay down his arms but instead he chose to go for the kill. That is not your fault you did what you thought was right and I don't judge you for that" Another doorway appeared this time blue
"Thank you Ynadon" I said and walked towards the doorway. The next place I landed in was a look alike of the Ravenclaw common room there was a desk with a woman with brown hair and piercing blue eyes with glasses. She looks like an upscale business woman
"Come here child sit" She put her hand out to the brown cushioned chair
"So who are you?" I ask
"My name is Ethene Goddess of Wisdom and Art and I'm here to tell you-"
"That me killing that man was not entirely my fault?" I ask
"Well yes that and to give my opinion on the whole situation. When you were the castle and you saw that echo how did you feel?" She asks
"Well confused, sad, disgusted, fear, shock, and haunted" I said all these with it still going through my head
"Haunted? Why that word?" Ethene asks me
"Because I knew that he would come back to haunt me, even though I did kill him he would keep coming back and haunt me. That's why I died or appeared here for some reason my emotions overcame I was weak" I explain
"Oh dearie. Yes you did end a life today but you must remember like my brothers said it was a fight or die situation which you took that role of survival.
"Why are you all so easy headed about this? I killed someone! Taking a life isn't something that is daily in the world. I swore to myself that I would never take a life in this game. I broke my promise to myself so why should I live anymore? What's the point?" My eyes are bloodshot and streaming with tears. I don't know why this happening to me I just want to die! This must be hell I thought
"Hun you have to realize shit happens" I look at her with a confused glare
"Yeah I said it look you need to think about the bad and the good. Or look at in Batman's perspective. He put his life on the line for others and yes he may have killed but that's what made him go to extreme lengths to save everyone even the villain" Ethene explains
"So you want me to think like Batman?" I ask
"Give yourself the ideology of Batman remember the next time in that situation remember that man. So it won't happen again ok" I give her a nod
"Good well now it's time to leave" Ethene said a gray doorway opens
"Goodbye Ethene" I say and I prep myself for whatever on the other side. This place compared to the others is a throne room withheld all the people I met including a new person. He is old but young with gray hair and gray eyes. He's radiating with an aura of order and righteousness
"Kira Tattoo user of magic and mortal of earth you have been summoned here to be helped with your mental state" The man said
"Yes but what is here?" I ask
"This is a place where the tormented are kept here to be counseled some stay here to be comforted and some go back into the world. Now it is time for you to choose"
"Ok then I want to go back home to help people because shit happens. I know I messed up and now I want to go back and help people. And even though his death is on my hands it does not define"
"Your choice has been made and you will go back but not without a few gifts" A blinding light comes off from the people and I awake in my house. I look around my room and see a sword, a book, some clothing, a new staff. There was also a note on my nightstand I grab it and examine it
These gifts are from your patrons. The sword is from Thyrdon which is named Windcarver Found upon the tallest peak in the Teeth of Naros, the stone that makes this blade is said to have been hewn by centuries of wind. Having been weathered for so long, the blade is sharp as a razor. the book is from Ynadon which is Justice Verdict which will up one skill you choose. Ethene gave you the robes Skymason's robe robes that are loose fitting and weak to but are itself powerful to its true wielder. The staff is from me Mitharu its name is Esharra's Song a staff suitable for your magic capabilities. Ihope we meet under lighter circumstances again Chain speller but till then farewell.
I hear a noise and see that I completed the quest but the quest name change instead of Such Sweet Sorrow, it changed to Redemption's Journey.
"Thank you" I whispered as I went to sleep from the exhausting journey I had
A/N: Hello I know it's been a while since I wrote this I just wanted to take a break from this since it really wasn't getting any love but to the people who still read it and reviewed thank you for it. This took me about five hours so I hope you enjoyed.